


Far From Home

by Burgie



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/F, Miqo'te WoL, female WoL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:42:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27190576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: When all seems lost, all Veronyka wants is to go home. But she can't.
Relationships: Lyse Hext/Warrior of Light
Kudos: 8





	Far From Home

How was it possible that everything had gone so wrong? They were supposed to be free by now, going home, taking the Scions with him, yet… here they were. Scattered among the Crystarium or other parts of the First, all licking their wounds and generally feeling sorry for themselves. And the waiting. And the worrying. And the pain, and… she should be home by now.

The thought kept coming back into Veronyka’s mind, over and over. She should be home by now. Home, watching the sunset from the warm walls of Ala Mhigo, her arm around her beloved, not… here. Sitting at the amaro launch at the Crystarium, her knees drawn up to her chest, the robe that she’d picked up at Mount Gulg drawn down over her knees for modesty. And for comfort. Now, for perhaps the first time, Veronyka was glad that her preference for more modest attire had another purpose- not simply that of covering her body, averting attention from her, but now… covering skin that glowed too bright, matching the Light that drenched the sky. That was wrong too.

In a time long past, Veronyka had journeyed to a realm known as Eureka. There, adventurers had created arms and armour that glowed, along with the help of Gerolt and Drake. She would give anything to be back there now, where only her clothing glowed, where the elements were horribly skewed and that was just the way things were. To be fighting beasts that made sense in a place that did not make sense.

At least the problems of Eureka had been solved, in the end. And, at the end of the day, Veronyka had been able to board a boat that would take her back to Kugane, where she would return home and tell Lyse all about her adventures. 

But Eureka had served its own purpose too, in a way. The purpose that had been revealed only when Veronyka had returned from a longer than usual expedition, when fighting monsters had opened up portals that had led into the Baldesion Arsenal. She’d returned home triumphant, buzzing with adrenaline, hardly able to wait to tell Lyse all about it. But something had been wrong, the smile had frozen on her face as she’d seen Lyse waiting at the pier in Kugane for her. Lyse had never waited for her there before, and she’d never looked this… worried.

“You’d been gone for days, Nyka,” Lyse had finally managed to get out after burying her head in Veronyka’s shoulder, unmindful of the glowing robes, trembling as she’d sobbed.

“I… I was?” Veronyka had asked, her arms holding Lyse to her tightly.

“Yes!” said Lyse. “And I asked Krile, since she’s been overseeing this whole thing, and sh-she told me that… that you’d disappeared through a portal.”

“To the Baldesion Arsenal, yes,” said Veronyka. “I’ve done that plenty of times before but… I guess this time went longer?”

“I was so worried,” said Lyse, looking at her through teary blue eyes. Veronyka tucked Lyse’s hair behind her ear, able to thanks to how Lyse was almost hunched over her, holding her so tightly.

“I’m sorry,” said Veronyka. “I wish linkpearls worked in there, but… I can’t even call Solar. Which is weird, because Krile uses them just fine inside of there, but I guess that the aetheric imbalance puts it in its own little bubble. But it’s okay, I’m okay. Really.” The other adventurers who travelled to Eureka were more than willing to help someone who’d been knocked unconscious by the monsters within.

“I know, I know you are,” said Lyse, brushing tears from her eyes roughly. “I just- worry, that’s all. I’ve always worried about you. But now you’re all that I’ve got left, and I just don’t know what I’d do without you. Which is really dumb, because you’re an adventurer and of course you’re always going to be wandering and-“ Veronyka had hushed her with a brief kiss to her lips.

“The day you left the Scions, I was very tempted to announce that I gave up the life of adventure and would join you,” said Veronyka. “But I can’t. Not yet, not while the realm still needs heroes. I can promise, though, that I’ll always come home to you. And, once this is all over… I’ll come home to you permanently. Ala Mhigo seems like a nice place to retire.”

“It would be pretty selfish of me to want you to give everything up for me, huh?” Lyse had muttered, and Veronyka had recognized the thorns of those words pricking inwards.

“Hey,” she’d said, brushing Lyse’s tear away with her thumb, cupping her warm cheek in her hand. “None of that. You know I’d love to take you with me, and I do when I can.”

“Honestly, I wasn’t ready to give up being a Scion either,” said Lyse. “I wanted to keep travelling. Like you. With you, even. I guess fate had other ideas, though.”

“Fate always does,” said Veronyka. “But it brought us together, so we can’t write it off completely.”

Despite Lyse’s worries that she was dragging Veronyka way from her work, Veronyka had spent half a moon at home in Ala Mhigo after that. Just spending time with her beloved, reassuring her that she was there. Veronyka hadn’t noticed before just how prone Lyse was to feelings of loneliness, though it made sense, she supposed. Lyse had always had Papalymo, even after her sister had died, and after that… Veronyka had been all that she’d had, all that she felt comfortable with. True, there were the Resistance members, but that had been a completely different scenario. Lyse felt comfortable with Veronyka. Safe.

And now here she was, a world away, sitting under a sky that made no sense, a sky that burned with the same light that she felt boiling within. Sometimes, the pain grew so much that she grew convinced that astral fire had consumed her body. It happened again now, causing her to hunch over, a low whine leaking from her throat as she waited for the pain to stop. And, when it did, she wiped away the glowing white light from her mouth and opened her eyes.

There was a pixie in front of her. One that she recognized, if only for the scowl on their face.

“I told you to call your most wondrous branch when you needed me, didn’t I?” Feo Ul demanded, hands on their tiny hips. “Now, look at you. No better than the old Titania.”

“I’m sorry, Feo Ul,” Veronyka mumbled, glancing down at her glowing white hands. Looking at her tattoos carefully to ensure that they were still there. The lightning bolt and the rose. She had to get home. She had to.

“No fire? Well, something must be truly wrong, then,” Feo Ul said. “Though I can see that, I’ve got eyes.”

“It’s like you said,” said Veronyka, shrugging. “I’m turning into a Lightwarden. We all are.”

“I can see that, I didn’t exactly come down in the last shower,” said Feo Ul. “And what are you going to do about it, hm?”

“There’s not much we can do,” said Veronyka. “Save killing the Exarch, and Astrid would kill us before we got the chance. Besides, we can’t because Emet Selch took him.” She’d felt a glimmer of kinship with that man once, the agreement that Hydaelyn was bad. Until he’d taken their ticket home.

“Your friends are smart, I’m sure they’ll figure something out,” said Feo Ul. “Though… there is a castle that you could stay in. You and all your friends. Keep me company.” They smiled at Veronyka, though Veronyka couldn’t muster one.

“I can’t,” said Veronyka. “Sorry, but I’ve got my own castle. Well, palace, really.”

“Oh, do you now?” Feo Ul asked. Veronyka nodded.

“I reclaimed my home, got the castle, and got the girl. Just not in that order,” said Veronyka. “But we’ve never really done things traditionally.”

“I’m always in the mood for a story,” said Feo Ul. Veronyka shook her head.

“I can’t,” said Veronyka, tears blurring her vision even more than the light. “It hurts too much.”

“Well… alright,” said Feo Ul. “I suppose this girl of yours is waiting for you at home?” Veronyka nodded, her throat tightening.

“I have to get home to her,” said Veronyka. “She doesn’t like being on her own. No matter what it takes, I have to get home. We just… have to figure out where Emet Selch went. Ryne’s working on a cure, though. Or at least, she thinks she is.”

“I know you mentioned that you knew Minfilia,” said Feo Ul. Veronyka nodded, her chest tightening at the mention of her. “Maybe you should… seek solace there.” Veronyka closed her eyes, fighting the old grief that still welled up every time. It had been hard enough seeing her before the foray into Malikah’s Well.

“If you think that would be best,” said Veronyka, opening her eyes again. Feo Ul nodded, resting their hand on Veronyka’s knee.

“It may at least cheer you up a little, give you some guidance,” said Feo Ul. “It’s worth a try, at the very least.”

“I’ll try,” said Veronyka, brushing the tears from her cheeks. “Thank you, Feo Ul.”

At least this time, she’d told Lyse that she may be gone for some time. Neither of them had known exactly how long that would be, though. And that, coupled with the knowledge of how long the Scions had been away… it worried her. For what if time suddenly ran the other way, what if… what if, what if.

“Oh,” said Feo Ul. “I do still check on her, in her dreams. She dreams about you. Nasty dreams.” At their tone, Veronyka finally laughed.

“The dangers of dreamwalking,” said Veronyka. “You never know what you might walk in on.”

And, though the aether still burned and roiled within her, Veronyka still managed a teleport spell. And found herself in the sunbaked desert of Ahm Araeng. The place that was so painfully close to her home and yet so dreadfully far away. The place where her first love had met her end. Where everything began, and everything ended.


End file.
